Eucalyptus Trees | Gum Trees

Eucalyptus trees have wonderful blue tinged, fragrant evergreen foliage. We offer several varieties, including some with intriguing disc shaped foliage. The exfoliating bark comes in shades of creams, greys and browns to add further interest and make it a great year round feature tree.

Eucalyptus trees are part of the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, and are commonly known as ‘gum’ trees due to the sap that seeps from cracks in the bark. There are more than 700 species of Gum tree, mostly native to Australia, with only fifteen species occurring outside Australia. Several Eucalyptus species are among the tallest trees in the world.

A popular evergreen, Eucalyptus makes a wonderful addition to any garden, offering year round interest with lasting ghostly, grey-green foliage, white flowers for spring/summer interest and a striking, chalky, exfoliating bark.

Everyday Uses of Eucalyptus Trees

Not only do Eucalyptus trees hold aesthetic value, they have several other, more functional features, mainly involving the sap or oil extracted from the bark and leaves:

The oil can be used as an ingredient in cleaning products and as a natural insecticide

Extracts of the oil can be used in industrial solvent, as an antiseptic, for deodorising, and in very small quantities, in food supplements

Eucalyptus oil can also be found in some sweets, cough drops, toothpaste and decongestants

Although the oil can be toxic in large quantities, koalas and possums are relatively tolerant of it and are known for eating Eucalyptus leaves, so many in fact, that they develop a distinctive Eucalyptus odour

Etymology of the Eucalyptus Tree

The etymological root of the name Eucalyptus comes from the Greek eu meaning ‘good‘ and kalyptos meaning ‘covered’, referring to the calyx which covers the flowers when in bud. The flowers can appear in spring, summer or autumn (depending on the variety of Eucalyptus) and have no petals, instead displaying fluffy stamens which may be coloured white, cream, yellow, pink or red.